Advertising industry watchdog ASCI ran its chainsaw across 82 out of 148 advertisements against which complaints were registered, putting major giants like Flipkart, Uber, Snapdeal, Vodafone India, Heinz India, L’oreal India, Pernod Ricard India and Amity University into the frame.

As per the report, advertisement campaigns ran by these giants in the month if June have been found either to be misleading consumers or making unsubstantiated claims or not adhering to the Advertising Standards Council of India’s (ASCI) code.

Flipkart has been accused of putting the maximum retail price of the product higher than the actual printed MRP and then offering it at a discount which eventually is sold at its actual MRP. Council says that this distorts facts and is therefore misleading the consumers as to the actual discount being offered.

In other ad campaigns, Snapdeal and Aakash institute have been accused of projecting unsafe driving practices for visualising a boy driving a bike with no helmet.

Uber has been again pulled into this controversy for its absurd slogan , “You drink, we drive”. The Council said the depiction of logos of bars in the advertisement promotes alcohol consumption among people.

Telecom operator Vodafone India’s claim of ‘uninterrupted voice calls on 3G Network’ was found to be not substantiated, while a claim on BSNL’s website about its sales team going to consumer doorsteps to provide connection and collect documents was found false, the Council added.

Similarly, L’oreal India has been accused of misleading its consumers by showing ambiguity among different advertisements for its different products.